When The Gates Open
by foolife
Summary: CHAPTER 3 UP (Chapter 5 on the list) Something's wrong with Gum. Is it the cause of the Golden Rhino's new high-tech device, or something more sinister?
1. Author's Foreword

When The Gates Open  
  
Jet Set Radio is a registered trademark of Smilebit and Sega Corporation. Any characters in this story from or based on characters in Jet Set Radio are the property of Smilebit and Sega Corporation. Any original characters are property of um, me! They are being used for entertainment purposes only. No money is being made from this fic.  
  
And that's all the copyright mumbo jumbo done with.  
  
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Author's Foreword  
  
What lies before you is not the kind of ordinary original story or fanfiction I would normally be inspired into writing. Instead, it is something much more personal, and I feel that now I have finally (well, a year or so ago, roughly) come to terms with it, I need to express it in some way.  
  
The subject matter is very volatile and I would like to assure all readers of this fic that it is not intended to upset, or mirror any lives of the JSR fanfic locals - nor is it meant to give some sort of anti-Jet Set Radio/GG feel (which is not true, given my undying love for the JSR series). This is something I needed to write, and with the GGs, I feel I can do anything with them; there's potential for expression that is unbridled by any other creation other than your own. And since I suck at creating characters.  
  
If you are easily offended or upset by tales of depressing diseases, mental torture, emotional pain and the like then it is probably best you stay away from this fic. It should, however, be noted that I have not yet decided on the ending (chapters 1 thru 4 are so over planned but chapter 5 remains unwritten even in note form); so there's always hope this'll wind up being a happy tale!  
  
Mini, related content warning: Sexual and sexually stimulating scenes present. As if there wasn't enough to put you off already.  
  
Finally, note that I love all the GG's equally. Honestly. And Poison Jam, and the Love Shockers; I even love the Noise Tanks! And this fic'll be non- canon, non-continuity, so take it as separate from 'Poisoned Affair' (when I have the energy and interest to continue it) and any other JSR fics I may embark on in the future.  
  
For those still reading - enjoy!  
  
Foolife, 6th December 2002 


	2. Prologue

When The Gates Open  
  
Jet Set Radio is a registered trademark of Smilebit and Sega Corporation. Any characters in this story from or based on characters in Jet Set Radio are the property of Smilebit and Sega Corporation. Any original characters are property of um, me! They are being used for entertainment purposes only. No money is being made from this fic.  
  
And that's all the copyright mumbo jumbo done with.  
  
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Chapter 1: Prologue  
  
Gum lay in the embrace of the darkness that covered Japan, deep inside her room. It was a hot, sticky, sweaty Summer night and she lay, restlessly shifting about in an awake state. Her naked body rubbed against the lacy spread; she'd already firmly booted the covers off onto the fluffy carpet below. She'd lost track of the amount of sheep she tried to count, and how long she'd been just lying, trying in desperation to drop off. It wasn't long, however, before she gave up altogether, and sat upright, rubbing her eyes.  
  
She stumbled through the black entity to the edge of her room, flicking on the light and squinting as she adjusted to the light. Rubbing her eyes once more, she became aware of just how tired she was. She sighed with annoyance and fell back defeated on her bed, and began to think of the memories of the day.  
  
It hadn't been the best of days. Maybe it was that affecting her ability to sleep. After all, Onishima and the Keisatsu were breathing down their necks harder than they'd ever been before; when she, Garam and Beat took the streets earlier to do some serious tagging, they'd been intercepted by a legion of SWAT officers - as ever, funded by the Golden Rhinos - and the short, stout, angry police chief himself. It had been a very close shave; Gum hadn't made it out unharmed. She slipped when grabbing hold of her escape route, a speeding car and gashed her cheek on the bumper. It was unlike her, normally packing all the elegance of a well-tuned tomcat, to lose her balance on such a textbook manuvore. The injury was still visible, even now. Gum lifted a hand to the cut and felt it. She winced; it still stung a little.  
  
Then, of course, after getting home and getting the third degree about her ever detoriating school grades, she'd learnt that her mother was pregnant. Not only was that just totally sick to her, it also put the fear of God into her. She'd be expected to haul her weight in helping out around the house and babysitting. She sighed, once again, and looked at her skates. It wouldn't be long before she'd have to hang them up.  
  
"Hang them up."  
  
Gum heard it. In fact, the whole world probably heard it. The booming voice repeated the words.  
  
"Hang them up."  
  
Gum frowned and looked around. Who was that? It was going to wake someone up if it kept on.  
  
"Hang them up."  
  
This time, she got the courage to call out.  
  
"Who's there?"  
  
"It's your little sister!"  
  
Gum raised her eyebrow.  
  
"I don't have a little sister."  
  
The voice, unsurprisingly, called back.  
  
"Yes, you do. You'll have to change my nappies and baby-sit me everyday!"  
  
She was brought back to reality from this haze when her father walked into her room without warning. As she saw the unmistakeable silhouette, her instincts made her lunge across the bed for the covers. However, her attempts to grab them were futile; they weren't there. She called out weakly.  
  
"Dad, stop, I'm naked! Let me find some clothes!"  
  
Her protests went ignored and unanswered, and the figure strayed closer and closer still, slinking up to her trembling, retreating body.  
  
The next few moments were a blur. She remembered the warm breath on her neck, the sweet nothings that were whispered in her ear and the tongue that licked her from head to toe, and she could do nothing to stop it. She was too weak to battle.  
  
'Is this real,' Gum whispered, barely audible as the pain and torment etched itself on her face. She repeated the phrase over and over again as she feebly pushed against her father. Her entire body shook up and down, her vision went blurry and her head felt like a ten-ton weight.  
  
Then, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. Her eyes widened at the image in front of her. Everything had reverted back to normal. Her door was closed, her father gone and her covers in a pile on the floor. She lifted a hand to her face, touching it lightly. The scar was gone; in fact, it had never been there.  
  
She struggled to tell the difference between the reality, and the fantasy. It had slipped away from her without even the faintest moment to grasp the concept of what just happened. She sat there, and felt cold for the first time. After a moment of shivering in self-satisfying silence, before she felt collected enough to grab the covers and wrap herself in them.  
  
The mind is always active, even when the body rests. To lose control of your thoughts is the scariest thing of all.  
  
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Foolife - 6th December 2002 


	3. Chapter 1: Anyone else getting a headach...

_**When The Gates Open **_

Jet Set Radio is a registered trademark of Smilebit and Sega Corporation. Any characters in this story from or based on characters in Jet Set Radio are the property of Smilebit and Sega Corporation. Any original characters - in this case, Shoda, are property of um, me! They are being used for entertainment purposes only. No money is being made from this fic.

And that's all the copyright mumbo jumbo done with.

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_**Chapter 1: Anyone else getting a headache?**_

Garam angrily stumbled into the garage following Slate, muttering as loud as he could.

"I did not break the plunger off your God damn pinball table! Why do you have to blame everything on me?"

Slate turned around, pointed an accusing finger and snapped back.

"Because whenever I find anything of mine missing or broken, who is the one person whose been using it last?"

Garam was caught there. He still hadn't replaced the brake on Slate's spare set of skates. Slate continued, arms folded and nose flopping out over his coat.

"Just accept that you're clumsy and irresponsible and that you broke my plunger and we'll leave it at that."

The look on Garam's face shot back to one that could spew daggers.

And so began a day that would change the GG's lives forever.

Gum sat on the sofa normally occupied by Tab, with her helmet discarded on the floor before her and her long blonde locks scrappily laced over her eyes. She had a hand to her head, propping herself up on the torn arm. She was struggling to even keep her eyes open, which she'd found as strange, given that she'd had an earlier night than normal. She distinctly remembered why; the gang was going on their biggest tag mission of the year, up to

Bugger. She couldn't remember.

Over on the other side of the garage, Slate was still trying to fit the plunger onto the table. He was fuming and muttering deliberately loudly, just to annoy Garam who had slinked off to his usual spot near the car. The mood was restless; Professor K's ramblings were largely ignored by the group who were either lacing up, pacing up and down or nervously drinking tea, sake or - in Yo-Yo's case - munching away at stale, leftover takeout pizza from several nights ago. The tags that normally blazed so wildly from the walls were dull after so many weeks of neglect. The paint was beginning to fade and strip away, almost as if the GGs were reaching their ends and had nowhere to go.

The serenity was suddenly broken with a Mew scream. It wasn't hard to see why; Yo-Yo had cornered her with several pieces of pizza shoved into any facial orifice he could find and was now trying to act like a monster with a heart.

"But I just want to be loved," he yelled in a falsetto voice. "Love me!"

He lunged to smother Mew with squelchy hugs and kisses but she spun out of the way.

"Yo-Yo, you're gross!"

Yo-Yo grinned as he turned and gave chase. What he didn't count on, however, was Cube sticking a well placed foot out.

Various, crusty toppings from the pizza made themselves acquainted to the air.

Gum continued to rack her brains for answers whilst the horrific scenario played out before her. She knew it was something big, something to get revenge maybe? She couldn't recall, not with all that noise. Some big bass drum in her head.

"Where we going again, guys?" she quizzed, having given up on her own thoughts.

Mew laughed, Tab smirked and Beat just looked in confusion at Gum.

"I hope you're being sarcastic" he murmured, barely audible. Gum frowned and shot back.

"No, I can't remember. It's called forgetfulness, you jackass."

Beat was in no mood to take Gum's anger today. He was a little nervous and jumpy, and took the bait.

"You've got a real attitude problem, you know that?" He said, angrily.

Gum stood up to confront him, but as she did a stabbing, hot pain reverbed around her head. Her knee-jerk reaction was to grab at it, but she didn't; never show weakness in a confrontation. Instead, she just sat down and rested back against the chair. Beat stood before her, but he was grinning now; not a grin of victory, more of malice.

"What?" Gum said, annoyed that she couldn't fight back with more vigilance. "You want a medal or something?"

"No," Beat shook his head. "I want to screw you."

Gum's eyes flew open wide. It was the most awake she looked - and felt - all day. She blinked, fleetingly, and then, when her eyes popped open once more, he was gone. Everyone in the garage had gone, and it was dark, black. She could barely make out Potts sleeping, his face partially submerged in his bowl of water, blowing bubbles as he snored.

"What the f-"

If she was looking to the word Fuck for an answer, she wouldn't find it there. Not even Fuck knew what was going on right now. She slowly but surely rose to her feet from the sofa, and looked outside. It was pitch black, the night sky lit up with faint stars. The only real light came from the buzzing of the faulty street lamp that flickered on or off throughout the alley. Gum was baffled; how could they leave her just on the sofa like that?

She turned on the garage light and flumped herself back down on the sofa, looking at her watch and checking the time. It was hardly late, for GG standards, so she assumed they must have still been out on the big tag 'n' dash.

She waited. There was little else she could do. Time crept on as she looked at the garage door endlessly, like a mother staying up in darkness, waiting for her curfew breaking children to slowly slink back in, trying not to disturb anything. She sighed deeply with this thought and for the briefest of moments, wondered if her place in the group was really that valid anymore.

"No. This is like family. Family has its ups and downs."

That's what it was, just a down.

Time had ticked on someway by the time the GGs all thundered through that door, conversing loudly and chattering happily. They'd obviously had a great time, and took even greater pleasure in telling Gum all about it.

"Gum! You missed a humdinger! We wound that place up so much; you can see the tag shining off it for miles! 'He' is going to FREAK!"

Saddened that she had missed all the action, Gum couldn't express any interest. Her words came out like that of a vunerable mouse.

"Why didn't you guys wake me?"

"You were so spaced out. We thought you'd been on the joints again to piss Beat off."

Piranha and Mew giggled; Gum's lips thinned. They knew she didn't like to talk about her drug habit, how dare they, she'd

What? Since when did she have a drug habit?

They were gone. More to the point so was she.

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Gum had snapped out of her trance sometime earlier. She wasn't sure whether it had been real or fake, but from what she gathered now, they were gently skating in groups of two so as not to be detected. Beat and her were heading to Shibuya - clearly Beat was still angry. He'd not said a word to her the whole way there.

She'd already checked herself all over mentally for any signs of losing time somewhere. She pinched herself, asked short-term memory questions and mused to herself about what just happened. It had felt so real; falling asleep and being left in the garage whilst the rest of the guys went to do what she was going to do now. Just like before; the sudden realisation hit her that this may be something more serious than a passing phase.

"Beat," she suddenly called. "Beat, listen, I'm sorry."

Apologies seemed to come harder to Gum, so Beat knew she was serious. He slowed himself to a glide and sighed, opening his mouth to speak. Gum wanted to just shut him up and tell him everything but she couldn't; it was so hard to make sense of herself, let alone everyone else.

"Gum, when are you going to calm down? You don't need to go off like a whirlwind every time something doesn't go your way."

Gum sighed to herself. It was best just to agree with him; she didn't want another fight, not now.

"Yeah, yeah, you're right," she began. "I guess I have been a little cranky recently."

Beat could feel the anxiety in her voice, and decided not to press it any further. He smiled warmly to show her no hard feelings.

"We'll talk about it when we get back, ok?"

Gum nodded, putting on a false ease not normally in her personality. Beat laughed, and began to dash away, shouting as he did.

"Let's give Shorty something to really look up to!"

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The GGs had arrived at Rokkaku Tower without being detected. It had taken some a little longer: Yo-Yo decided he wanted to stop for some KFC along the way, and trailed a path of grease that Combo slipped up on, but they had made it all the same. Dusk had fallen, and the downtown area was lit up like a 50-mile high Christmas tree. Neon signs and strip lights illuminated the street after street that bustled with tired workers and late night shoppers.

Goji might have been dead and buried, but his successor, Shoda Ataru had hardly led the company into new times; it was merely a cleverly disguised work of restructuring and resource pooling. The Golden Rhinos acted as the corporations national guard, preventing anyone from getting in unless Shoda himself had requested their presence, and it had been rumoured in the underground that the Tower now extended deep into the Earth's crust as well, harbouring a nest of research facilities, all dedicated to something less than human. The Tower was a horrid sight to see, reflecting the myths; grey and darkened, only the fearsome swirly logo of the global conglomerate reflecting the vaguest bit of light.

Gum swallowed. If wasn't for Beat, they wouldn't be here right now, risking injury and even death at the hands of such a stupid stunt. He'd gotten drunk one night after a highly successful and ruthless takeover of Love Shocker territory, and unfortunately took a wrong turn on the way home. Inevitably, the Love Shockers had taken full advantage of Beat's intoxication and got off with a very impressive deal - if the GGs couldn't paint the Tower red, then he would have to hand over the rights to the garage and officially retire the GGs. It was quite literally do or die.

Cube stared in awe at the structure.

"Beat, we owe you one for losing that bet. This is gonna be so dope."

Beat, somewhat embarrassedly, smiled as the rest of the group nodded their heads. Gum rolled her eyes.

The creation of the tag had somewhat flown past. After the long tedious task of breaking in through the loading bays past the Rhinos and their own personal army, it was only a short wait before the GGs, in groups of 5, had ascended the tower on either side, reaching the top with relatively little difficulty. Armed to the teeth with the finest quality paint, they perched themselves carefully on the walkway and began to do what they did best; tag - in style.

However, as expected, their artwork did not go unnoticed. Bystanders informed the police, the police dispatched several units and informed the Golden Rhinos; the Rhinos loaded their guns and ran up the stairs. All this had happened a lot earlier than the GGs had expected; it would be a lot harder to finish the tag. They'd come prepared though. Beat, Slate, Piranha, Mew and Cube would use their speed and tricks to distract the forces as best they could whilst the others would finish up the tag.

Gum quickly dashed across the girder that was holding up one part of the structure. She'd not been on the mark with the others, who had vanished from all sight - she only hoped they had finished their bits and made it out alive.

'Easy does it, easy does it,' Gum winced to herself as she hung herself upside down from the bar, her feet precariously balanced from the walkway above. She could hear the yells of the police, the helicopter around the other side of the building and the Golden Rhinos approaching ever nearer, but she sprayed ever so slowly across the incomplete delicate black surface. Just as she finished, and hoisted the can away, one of the helicopters banked around the side of the building. Lights blazed in her face and wind whipped itself up at her from the rotors. She blew like a rag doll, her helmet slipping off, almost instantly out of view to a horrible smashing death below. She shook inside, desperately hoping that her feet would keep locked in on the walkway long enough for her to regain her composure.

Gum used every muscle in her aching body to try and pull herself up to the ledge. The chopper's whirring and buzzing as it got closer and closer, barking instructions for her to give up and telling her she was under arrest, made it tough but made her more resolute - after what she just did, she was either getting out alive as a legend, or falling to her death as a freedom fighter - she would not be carted off to prison like some common street thug.

As she struggled, her stomach tensed and strained. It was pointless, she wasn't strong enough. She thought quickly at her options, keeping her eyes on the lower levels as well as the odd glance at the heli. Rhinos on both sides were darting up the stairs, homing in on her whenever their greedy eyes could take a look. She assumed that either her compadres had been dealt with, or escaped. Still, she wasn't hanging around to find out; it was make or break time; the flying chunk of metal had gotten as close as it could have without ripping its blades into the side. Gum tucked up close to the wall, said a prayer, and then pushed as hard as she could.

She glided through the air, just managing to grab on to the front of the chopper. The pilots looked in terror as they swung away, Gum gripping on for dear life with one hand, and casually taking out her spray with the other. There was barely anything left in the can but she did her best reworking of her token "Gum" tag that she could. Without vision, the helicopter spun helplessly out of control, flat lining towards the ground. Gum slipped and fell with the motions, but by the time she did, the chopper had gotten close enough to one of the bigger walkways on the tower.

She turned back quickly to admire the job they had worked on. The best, most impressive rendition of "Crazy Crew" ever seen blazed across the top few rows of the building in bright, blazing paint. There was no way anyone was going to forget this in a hurry. The Rhinos came nearer, so she flicked her hair up at them and then hopped off the side, hurtling towards the tarmac below.

It was a perfect landing. Her feet came down together in parallel unison, and her knees bent at the exact moment needed to avoid spilling the contents of her legs all over the floor. Her arms balanced her like a tightrope; she could be gliding across telegraph poles and wires flawlessly right now. The feeling would be the same; She got in, she tagged, she was free, and she felt great. Pressing her foot forward, she stopped, and suddenly, she didn't feel so great anymore.

Thud. Thud. Thud. The sounds of GG skates dropping all around her to the pavement as they too made their escapes, each and everyone of their landings nearly as good as hers, exploding in her head as weights dropping.

The images went awash with colour, the sounds mixed into one another, and then, she felt her whole body shatter into a million pieces with a dull thud.

"Anyone else getting a headache?"

Her weak words went unheard. The only colour left was black.

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"It's working," said Kobashi to no one in particular, his voice little more than a whisper. Donned in a white lab coat, the scientist stared eagerly at the side of the gigantic telescope object that was pointed up and out of Tokyo-to Police Headquarters. His hand tapped buttons on the console whilst he sat, staring at the shaky black and white screen. Staring at the downed Gum as she lay with her face crushed into the tarmac and Beat and Combo gently trying to lift her without hurting her anymore, the rest of the GGs panicking.

'I can't believe I'm picking on her,' Kobashi thought.

He really couldn't, and he'd seen enough torture for one night. He gently leaned across to the main control panel, backed up his program settings and flicked the large power switch. The whirr of the generator, once synonymous with the background of the room, spluttered, slowed and died, removing the shroud of fake silence from the room.

Onishima folded his arms and looked at Kobashi. Timidly, he could only stare back at those intense, dark eyes for a matter of milliseconds before he was forced to change his direction of vision. 

"Does it work?"

"Yes, bu-" He was cut off again.

"Who was your target?"

Kobashi consulted his notes quickly. He could feel Onishima's presence as if it were a demonic force, breathing hot fire down his neck. Trailing a finger down the page, he picked out the name of his subject.

"She goes by the name Gum."

"You couldn't have chosen a better subject," Onishima said, gleeful malice in his voice as he rubbed his hands. "Deploy it on all of them. The time has come to round up our little friends."

Kobashi gulped. He hadn't counted on Onishima wanting ALL of the GGs. He wasn't even sure his machine would be able to handle all 10 at once; he needed more time. His protests were not met with the greatest of concern.

"Now you listen to me, punk," Onishima yelled as he scrunched Kobashi's collar up, and pushed him against the machine, rattling its innards with force. "I don't care where you came from and I don't care where the hell you go once this is all done. I don't want this machine here in my police station any longer than it takes to capture that hell-on-wheels! I don't care about your research and I don't care if this doo-hickey is even stable; I. WANT. THEM. DEAD."

The tone had progressively dropped until it had become a vicious snarl. Onishima kept Kobashi pressed up against the machine. He struggled, weakly and futility to break the hold but the pressure was too much to fight. Every struggle Kobashi made, Onishima tightened his hold. In no time at all, it began to hurt.

"Listen, you geeky psy-whatever you are, this is the deal. You put the hurting on all of them, you get your stupid little test results and I get my busts. YOU GET ME?!"

The delivery of the last three words proved Onishima's mouth was more than a worthy substitute for a Professor K certified speaker.

"Sissy little girls, the lot of them," Onishima grumbled, deliberately over-exerting his voice so Kobashi could hear, as he left, slamming the door behind him.

"What I lack in strength I make up for in intelligence," Kobashi stated, for the first time showing his defiance. It was a shame that for such a life defining statement, no one was in the room. He stared at the door as the rage burnt silently in his eyes.

"You'll see. You'll all see!"

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Right, just cos Tal was nice enough to talk to me on AIM I made a special effort to get this out as soon as possible; and I think it came out rather well ^_^ Apologies for the brief moments of foul language. For my next couple of projects, I will actually read and review the last 25 fics on the JSR fic page, and then go and finish Kingdom Hearts (because it wants me to!). Therefore, don't expect an update any time soon. But it'll happen oh yes!

Merry Christmas everyone! - Foo, 18th December 2002  



	4. Chapter 2: The Core of Humanity

_**When The Gates Open**_

Jet Set Radio is a registered trademark of Smilebit and Sega Corporation. Any characters in this story from or based on characters in Jet Set Radio are the property of Smilebit and Sega Corporation. They are being used for entertainment purposes only. No money is being made from this fic.

The following characters are mine: Voltage, Shoda Ataru, Timo and Kobashi. They are copyright of me and therefore remain my property.

And that's all the copyright mumbo jumbo done with.

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_**Chapter 2: The Core Of Humanity**_

Voltage hummed the theme of Teknopathetic to herself lightly as she sat in the dank and musty holding cell with her knees pulled up close, trying to think of things to keep herself occupied with before she went insane. There wasn't really much to look at; 4 grey walls, a set of shiny bars and some characters she'd rather not have been with, but she didn't have a choice. She was just a rudie locked in the never-ending battle to express herself through art. Not just mindlessly streaks of yellow, red, blue or any other colour in the spectrum, nor a blur of a name running through some underground tunnel but her own portraits that took months to design and even longer to implement. For wanting to express herself, she had paid the ultimate price at the hands of Onishima's police force.

She ran a finger through a trace of her glistening red hair to pull some of the loose strands covering her vision and sighed contemplatively as her sharp brown eyes scanned around again at the usual suspects lined before her. To the far corner was a quivering businessman; she figured he was in for the whole prostitution gig. In front of her, trying to bend the bars almost as a weight training exercise rather than a plan to escape was a muscular, gruff man. She guessed some sort of violence or hardened crime on that one. Finally to her left was a girl in her early 20s, knocked out and sleeping soundly. From the beer stains on her glitzy clothing Voltage concluded that it was drunk and disorderly for her.

There was something about a holding cell that quietened even the most intense victim. It was like a stasis of limbo; you were away from the horrors and confusion of everyday life but you weren't locked up for being clinically insane or having racked up any criminal charges. Limbo might have been boring, but at least it was safe.

Voltage was still, for the most part, dressed in her outfit. Only the helmet lay disregarded, doubtless now in some police storage office or trash compartment, having of course been removed by Onishima himself upon her successful capture. She bit her lip thinking about it, annoyed with her own stupidity at allowing herself to get caught. The moonlight suddenly broke from behind the cloud cover and briefly transformed the room into a hall of radiance. Voltage's fair skin turned angel like from the beam and for just a single split second, all of the tiny, almost invisible freckles that dominated the edges of her straight and slim nose could have been counted. As the glow faded again behind the wrap of the clouds, Voltage rubbed her cheek. The blood had dried now, and great dirt streaks had made their presence felt with layers of gravel etched into her face. She was unconcerned about her own appearance; if anything she prized the injuries like a trophy, a mark of respect for the freedom of expression she did battle for. Even so, the price of freedom did sting just a little.

Voltage was forced to squint when the boom of artificial light from the corridor intensified. The loud scraping and scratching of a safety door very quickly followed it; it was the clanging chimes of doom for one person in the room. They all looked towards the cell bars to see who would be the one being taken for questioning, and possibly even charging. After what seemed like an age, the blackened silhouette of an officer peered into the cell then down to the note filled clipboard tucked underneath his arm.

"Ms. Bethany White?" said the officer blindly, consulting his notes and not looking in the cell.

"Yes," replied Voltage in a timid English accent.

The officer looked into the cell and strained his eyes in the search of its confines for the figure of Voltage. Once he locked onto her, he snorted; a Japanese rudie in Japan was bad enough, but a foreigner, an alien, to the homeland?

"Captain Onishima will see you now."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Gum floated in the darkness. Her movement was still, simmering, not falling but just plain hovering in an endless embodiment of space. Even so, she felt smothered - the random sounds of the outside were muffled, disguised and covered and no sound came from her desperate pleas for help and salvation. Even though her eyes were closed, she could still feel the burning of bright light through her skin. It changed tone and hue often, but all the colours ultimately merged into one darkened vision. She couldn't pick out anything in particular, and began to think she may well have died and gone to some sort of limbo state, waiting to be picked up by a legion of sardonic angels, ready to punish her for sins against society.

Once the initial panic and despair of the situation had worn thin from her mind, she calmed a little more and the colours began to calm with her. It wasn't as if all these mental disconnections were anything new. She sighed, and sadness crept into her. She just wanted to be normal again.

The depression was shattered suddenly as an old and gruff voice barked through the darkness. It was indistinguishable at first, nothing more than a blur of noise, but it was soon very recognisable. Shoda Ataru. It was a half panic-ridden, half anger fuelled jumble of Japanese that Gum could barely make out to begin with, but her senses were still recovering from the fall.

"What are you doing here," The voice shakily demanded. "How did you get past security?"

She carefully opened her eyes a fraction. Everything was hazy and overwhelmingly bright for a few minutes, before slowly zooming into focus before her. Her head felt heavy and her eyes struggled to stay open; it was as if someone was subjecting her to weeks of torture filled sleep deprivation. Nonetheless, she tried to get her wits about her just to find out what was going on, whether this was reality or fantasy and if anyone could help her find her way back to the GGs.

Slowly lifting herself to her feet, she looked around the gigantic office before her. Three huge, neatly crafted glass windows padded themselves at the back of the office; each stretched widely creating the illusion that the office was far larger than it had actually been made. Mahogany bookcases and gold plated filing cabinets were stashed in various corners of the office, each overladen with profit margins, building contracts and old employee contracts that either Rokkaku or Ataru had personally seen to. The floor was a mixture of cream floor mats and light blue carpet, reflecting with gloss. It was the ultimate office, fit for a king; and anyone who sat in control of the Rokkaku Empire was truly a King.

Right in the middle of the room sat the desk of Shoda Ataru, which Ataru sat at. Fear was carved onto his face whilst he tried to play brave against the intruder - it wasn't Gum. Instead, a man dressed in a white trench coat trudged towards the desk slowly. The trench coat covered most of his person, but the unmistakable glimmer of a shotgun could be seen trailing down the leg. Gum gasped but instantly placed her hand to her mouth; neither party had noticed her yet nor she didn't want to get involved. She watched on frozen, as the quivering Ataru continually babbled, his ramblings losing their anger.

"Whatever you want, tell me! I can get you anything, anything you've ever wanted!"

The cries went either unheard or ignored, as the trench swayed ever closer to Ataru's desk. If the slow steps weren't intimidating enough, the hulking shoulders of the brute would be. His arms bulged the sleeves of the coat almost out of shape, and now even Gum felt scared. Her insides rocked with nausea just at the thought of what she could be seeing in just a few minutes. Her instinct was suddenly to get out, and not be a witness or even victim to the massacre about to take place.

She crouched slowly, and began to sneak towards the door. She made her footsteps as delicate and gentle as possible in order to avoid rustling the carpet by mistake, but every twitch of movement she made sounded like a ten-ton weight crashing to the floor and reverbing around the finely tuned walls. Her nerves jangled like bells blowing in the wind, and she gritted her teeth together in fear of getting discovered, focusing on reaching the door as best she could. She had almost made it until a loud boom of words escaped Ataru's mouth that made her freeze square in her tracks.

"But, but, I never authorized that!"

The anger had passed; Ataru clearly knew who his victimizer was, and it was suddenly as if he was regretting every action he'd made as the chief-at-large of the company he had sought to mould in his own sick and twisted image, just as it's founder had before he was bitterly laid to rest following his extended fall. He was a liar creating a monster he thought he could control and handle. Now he realised that it was impossible to control such a beast.

The man in the trench coat spoke. The words were silent but Gum could see by the way he mashed his lips together that the nature of the conversation was pitch black. It wasn't anger, or even intimidating, but it was straight, to the point and dark. Gum would have killed to know exactly what his motives were.

The trenchcoat slowly lifted the gun as Ataru quivered in the moonlight. The first bullet ripped through Ataru's chest like a knife cutting through supple butter. Flesh and blood mixed, dribbling down his chest as he jerked with the impact. One hand covered the wound, and the other dropped down besides the chair and dangled limply. Another bullet left the gun almost as quick as the first.

"No!" Gum held out her hand and screamed as loud as she could. It was then that she noticed her arms, legs and entire body was colourless and clear, like an old disguarded once dearly loved object now plastered in dust. She had no time to dwell on the change in her appearance. The man in the trenchcoat dropped the gun in surprise and turned around with a surprised look. Gum gulped with the knowledge that he could hear her.

"You were a part of this," Gum could read his lips as they mashed together once more. "Get used to it. Get used to the pain."

His hot red eyes were the only feature that burnt from his sunken face. It was a far drawn contrast to the rest of his white appearance. Gum turned to run. Grabbing onto the handle of the huge door, she opened it quickly and began to dart out of the door, but it was too late. A scuffle of metal being scooped up from the floor, a sharp explosion from the gun echoed, and she hit the floor hard and felt the life sucked out of her.

He walked slowly to her as she writhed in silent pain. She only caught another glimpse of his eyes before she felt more insurmountable pain.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

A scream dispersed itself loudly across Highway Zero leading out of Tokyo-To, but was swallowed by the automobiles that populated the roads and went unnoticed by anyone, except for those in the same locale. 

"Shit! She's having a seizure!"

Underneath the Highway's newly reconstructed bridge, most the GGs gathered together in a tiny, unoccupied shack they had found. It was hardly homely - the walls were dented, the furniture ripped and soiled, and without electricity or even light. A few sole candles that Combo and Cube had managed to salvage from the remains of a burnt out store a few blocks from the highway provided the only trails of luminosity. Luckily, they had lasted as long as they had needed to - most of the GGs had slept, taking it in turns to watch over their fallen comrade during the night.

Dawn was beginning to break over TokyoTo and as it had, the sound of the cars above doubled and sent vibrations down the supports, shaking the shack to it's foundations time and time again. It was a hazy sunrise 

In spite of their success the previous night, the GGs certainly didn't feel like the victors for the most part. Gum had seemingly succumbed to some hard working illness and had failed to make it away from the Rokkaku Tower consciously, and when the GGs eventually made it back to the garage using every back alleyway they could find, the place had been ransacked and torched. It was a mark of the Assassins; now they knew where the GGs had been stationed all this time, and returning there would be like dancing with death. Slate hightailed it out of there to check on his brother whilst YoYo freaked out completely and decided to hide on his own. The braver souls vowed to stay by Gum and using the night as their cover, eventually finding solace beneath Highway Zero. It wasn't perfect, but it was all the choice they had for now. Homeless and not complete as a unit, they had to do their best, if only for Gum.

Alarm rang in Mew's voice as she helplessly watched Gum shake and flip uncontrollably in her unconscious state. The sweat had drenched her forehead and had seeped back into her hair, and her face had turned red from the heat. Mew struggled against Gum's raw strength to keep her down, thankfully receiving quick help from Combo. Gum eventually relaxed at the touch of their hands, and drifted back into a peaceful state. Beat had watched the whole thing in horror from his 'bed'.

Piranha scooched up to him quietly and out of the way once the commotion had died down. Shaking her head, she spoke.

"Beat, I'm sorry but we've got to get her into medical care."

Beat's reply was authoratively instant.

"No," he hissed. "She's one of us, we'll take care of her."

"I know how you feel Beat, but"

"Oh, you do, do you? Do you know how hard it is to see your best friend like that?"

"Yes!" Piranha had raised her voice in surprise at Beat's insinuations. Beat leant against the wall and trailed down it until he hit the floor, scratching his head.

"I'm sorry," he ventured, after a while. His expression seemed genuine and so Piranha took his outburst for what it was; a cry of frustration and fear. She'd seen it before - Beat's weaknesses were in defeat. No longer would he be the cool and calm collected spirit that won so many gang wars and tag battles. Accepting defeat is a bitter pill to swallow.

Piranha put all of that to one side in her mind and tried again.

"She needs medical attention."

Beat sighed and rubbed the edge of his nose before resting his hands on his knees. He thought about it for an eternity before carefully preparing and constructing his answer.

"It's too much of a risk, Piranha. She'll get caught, locked up - worse even - and if Onishima has his way we'll never see her again."

Piranha's rage built as her belief in her leader fell. She had never seen him so positioned against common sense as this. He was being selfish and arrogant, and she wasn't afraid to tell him so. Beat saw red again.

"Forget it. Forget this. FORGET YOU!"

Vibrations were reversed as the slam of the hideout door echoed up the supports. As Piranha took deep breathes and rubbed her nose and eyes in disbelief, things took a further turn for the worse when Slate burst through the door just a few minutes after Beat's departure. His face had turned white and he looked to be in complete shock. Piranha stared at him standing in the doorway. Without knowing, she too had turned white; fear entered her heart and she expected the worst.

"What," she started. "What is it, Slate?"

Quivering, he flicked the playback switch on his wristwatch radio. The grainy sound of a newsreader from one of Japan's public service stations came on.

"Yesterday, Tokyo-To business was shocked by the assasination of Shoda Ataru. Ataru, 81, was found dead in his office by his bodyguards late last night, the victim of a single bullet wound to the chest. It was believed he died instantly. No one as of yet has claimed responsibility for the attack but both police and the Golden Rhinos have stated that they want to question a skate gang who were in the area at the time."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"Ladies and gentlemen of the Golden Rhinos Research Commission, I'd like to declare this meeting open. I'm sure you will share my greatest condolences to the death of our illustrious chairman but business must move on as usual, and to ensure that the company remains at the forefront of high tech research and development, Timo"

The rest of the conversation trailed off for Kobashi. He had hesitantly turned to his notes to ensure they were all in order again. The hairs on his back pricked and stood on end as he nervously jangled with every sound. Something definitely wasn't right; he was normally composed, especially when putting forth his ideas and results. Maybe it was just the buzz of the major discovery he had made.

"Mr. Timo," the Rokkaku board member invited the head of R&D to the top of the table. Timo smiled in his usual sinister way, and the meeting began. Those with less adequate projects than Kobashi's either mumbled their results and announced that development would go no further, or were laughed out of the room with their ideas. The more intelligent and diligent members would report solid gains, but often Timo squashed their plans. He was ruthless; he wanted a product that would be new, original and take the world by storm, not some bland reworking of some other companies invention. It was not the way he worked; thinking like that had made the Rokkaku Enterprise one of the biggest in world history. Finally, he got to Kobashi. Kobashi shuddered and jolted to his feet in an explosion of enthusiasm. His presentation began.

"I started my project by thinking what the police needed most of all. Surprisingly, I came to the conclusion that it wasn't high tech guns or new spray, or anything like that, instead, I figured it was some sort of suppressant, something to slow down the progress of a perpetrator."

Kobashi paused for effect. His peers all wondered where he was going with this.

"Now, of course, it would be easy to just take an existing police gas bomb and make it more powerful, but I have concocted an idea that allows the police to cull their opposition in stealth. All the arresting officers would need to do would be to pick up the unconscious foe."

Once more, he paused for effect. Timo was nodding his head slightly in interest. Kobashi grinned; he had engaged his target audience.

"Project Gateway works by locking onto it's target and firing an intensive invisible beam into the. It sucks dormant energy from the body's muscles and cell structures. Whilst a criminal could still enact what he is doing at the time, when he tries to run, he'll find that he has no energy to do so. The result renders the opponent either unable to move, or knocks them unconscious."

Timo stood quickly out of his chair, knocking it backwards and clapping excitedly, on his own. Other members of the table reluctantly joined in, fearing that their jobs would be on the line if they didn't. Kobashi continued, explaining the results of the experiment on Gum, all the more getting Timo excited, but he was still to put his foot in it.

"However, I found some of my results were unexpected. The energy taken by the Gateway module is not merely dispersed into the environment but is collected. It can be harnessed for any purpose. Imagine, for example, if the energies of a thousand criminals were collected; essentially, if one person were to get hold of them, they would have the mental and physical capacity of a thousand men!"

Kobashi finished with a conclusion. No one clapped, not even Timo. In fact, Timo looked furious. He quickly dismissed the meeting and took Kobashi aside.

"This project is dangerous, Kobashi," Timo hissed. "Do you realise what could happen if word of this gets out? You should have warned me of these side effects you experienced as soon as they happened. We could have looked at a way to remove them."

"I couldn't give you a report as it stood, I needed more time to feel them in action," Kobashi excitedly started, but his gushing had given him away already. Timo blinked hard and cut him off before he could reflect any further.

"FEEL them, Kobashi? FEEL? You transferred the energy into yourself," Timo's mouth slipped in shock. He stopped, stared deeply into Kobashi's eyes then looked away and mumbled darkly.

"This project is officially terminated. We will send around our own crews to remove the machine from the police station. You, Kobashi, have violated everything this franchise ever stood for. You are no longer a part of this organisation. I suggest you leave as quickly and quietly as possible."

Timo brushed past him, not once looking up as he headed to the exit. Kobashi stood dead still, looking forward with his mouth slightly parted and his eyes sunken. His heart freefell into the darkness below.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

So I heard some sad news today. Smilebit and Sega apparently have announced they have no plans to design, develop and release another JSR game. I guess the GBA one will be the last in the series I don't even want to think about how deserted this place will be within a year :( (source: gamefront.de)

Ok, so that's the end of that for now. 'Owever, next up is the first chapter of a little surprise I just had to write as soon as I realised the parody with the title ^_^ You'll see. "When The Gates Open" will continue after I've written the first chapter of heh, you'll have to wait! :P

Angry Scientist + Linael: I am midway through reading Soul Survivor and A Future of Tommorow so bear with me and I'll review them in due course.

Foo - 4th January 2003.  



	5. Chapter 3: The Blackout

_**When The Gates Open**_

Jet Set Radio is a registered trademark of Smilebit and Sega Corporation. Any characters in this story from or based on characters in Jet Set Radio are the property of Smilebit and Sega Corporation. They are being used for entertainment purposes only. No money is being made from this fic.

The following characters are mine: Voltage, Shoda Ataru, Timo, Kobashi Yamato, Flux, Shien, Radeon and Gateway. They are copyright of me and therefore remain my property.

And that's all the copyright mumbo jumbo done with.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

_**Chapter 3: The Blackout **_

_You can't let them take me_

"Shut up...SHUT UP!"

Kobashi was almost screaming. He sat deep in his loft, rocking gently backwards and forwards, the only other sound from the creeking of the floorboards beneath him. He clutched his face and continually ran his fingers down from his eyes to the top of his cheek bones.

_We are not complete_

"You're finished! Leave me alone!"

_If they take me, they take you too_

"Wh, what are you talking about?"

_You can't go back now. Not without me._

Kobashi fell silent. He couldn't answer the voice hissing in his head anymore.

_We have Ataru. Use his knowledge._

"I can't"

Kobashi's weak protests were barely audible.

_Do I have to think of everything for you? Without me, there is no you. You have to get me._

"How?" By now, Kobashi's voice had become high pitched and stunted. He was defeated against the voices in his head. The voice didn't answer, and all fell quiet for several minutes. Kobashi even stopped rocking.

His eyes turned red.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

"Wake up, old man."

Ataru opened his eyes as he felt a shuffled foot press against his arm. He was lying flat on the floor. Everything before him was black and white. Staring over him were the same red eyes that had placed the gun to his head and took his soul. The strangest thing now was, he was still alive.

"Who, who are you?" he stuttered, frail lips clanging together.

"I'm Gateway. Welcome to my mind."

"Gateway? Your mind?" Ataru was bewildered.

"My memory banks to be precise. I was quite surprised that you gave me this much RAM."

"What are you talking about? Take me back to Rokkaku Tower!" Ataru's desperate authoritative plea stunk of a cry for help.

"Sorry, I can't do that," Gateway uninterestingly replied, who had now sat back in the dark recesses. "You don't exist on a physical plane anymore. Only here with me. I was expecting my creator to know a little more about me."

Ataru struggled to move, but was overcome with intensive exhaustion. His weak body fell back just a few seconds after he had tried to move. As he stared up to the darkness, he quivered.

"What have you done to me? What are you?" he repeated his first question once again. Gateway sighed.

"My name is Project Gateway, serial number 0055AH1. Classified Grade 2 Golden Rhinos Research Project, authorised by Mr. Shoda Ataru," a long white gloved finger shot out and pointed towards Ataru. "You."

Gateway stood and strode over again, reciting his soul purpose.

"Designed and developed by one Kobashi Yamoto, Project Gateway's main aim is to absorb the energy of criminals and perpetrators from far distances, leaving the police to pick up easy arrests."

"Absorb? Then why am I here?"

Gateway grinned evily.

"Because, Kobashi made me more alive than he ever thought possible."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

The three figures in the cramped, hot police office were still like shadows, staring at each other in an almost triangular formation. Onishima gazed intently at the security guard, who kept his eyes carefully on Voltage, who, in turn had her eyes very firmly locked on Onishima, studying every blink of his eyes and twitch of his hands.

Shorty looked considerably different than the same chief of police that had slapped the handcuffs roughly onto her wrists. The familiar light beige, stained trenchcoat was hung up above the filing cabinet, and with it laid the low stench of cigars and the uneven grey stubble.

In fact, he was rather smartly dressed; suit, tie and slick backed hair, accompanied with a very fresh, fully shaven appearance made Onishima seem more like an experienced investment banker rather than a bedraggled captain just looking for a quick bust. It was quite a change for a man who didn't sleep for fear of the next fruitless day.

He broke the triangle by turning his head back to face Voltage. No amount of prim dress could remove the essence of what he really was; some stone faced, cold-hearted cop with a bad attitude. He studied Voltage for a second or two, looking at her face, in particular the shape of her eyes. His face was locked with so much hate that when he came to break away he had to spit onto the floor. Under his breath he muttered something in Japanese. Voltage's ears pricked.

"Hey," she started, assertively. "I speak Japanese you know."

Onishima turned his head back to meet hers, a grin forming across it.

"So?"

"So, if you're going to insult me you should probably do it in a different language."

Voltage knew that the battle was lost, but she wasn't going to go down so easily in a war of words with the police chief. Onishima stood back for a second and straightened his tie, trying to shirk his neck away, and wincing as the shirt collar tightened. He flumfed back down into the chair, and spread his arms out. Voltage sunk into her chair a little; she'd been mentally preparing herself for something quite different.

"So," Onishima began. "What do you think I should do with you?"

Voltage scratched her head and her thoughts sprung into action, racing for a quick witted and off-putting reply. She didn't have time to form one, however.

"No answer?" he began, once again adjusting his position in the chair, shaking his shoulder uncomfortably. "How about I lock you up for life in one of our dingiest cells and throw away the key?"

He put his finger to his mouth and raised his eyes in mock thought for a second.

"Nah," came the extended reply. "We'll throw you in some juvenile institute for rehabiliation where you will no doubt be abused and bullied for days on end, crying into your knees every night just to get to sleep."

Voltage thinned her lips angrily. Onishima saw her cave and he laughed manically, outstretching his arms and leaning back on the chair.

"Nope, nope," he uttered. "We won't do that."

Both grin and laugh vanished.

"You're going to be the perfect test subject for the Golden Rhino's next project."

Voltage was taken by surprise.

"Test subject? What kind of piece of meat do you take me for???" she spoke in outrage.

"A piece of meat that I can feed to the Rhinos," he began. "You see, I wouldn't expect an outlaw like you to understand but I'm on the verge of signing a contract with them to provide all of our policing needs. You'll be the perfect sweetner for the deal; imagine, a real life rudie not protected by our Governmental laws."

It was clear that Onishima was trying to install thoughts of doom into her head; being locked away with no chance of escape, dragged out like a hurt puppy every five seconds to have a further dose of radiation blasted into her was hardly 

"This is a breach of human rights! Either charge me or I'm leaving out right now!" By this time, she had become so riled with worry that she wasn't not aware her face was glowing red with rage or that the berth of the chair was no longer supporting her.

Onishima slammed his fist down hard on the desk.

"I'm gonna tell you this, little rudie punk. You're my little prodigy now, my little experiment," he snarled, his true colours leaking more and more through the cheap polyester. He leaned forward over the desk.

"Can you imagine how useful it is to find a rudie not Japanese," he breathed through his teeth. "You have no right to be here, YOU HAVE NO RIGHTS!"

The voice echoed off of the walls and recycled itself until it was no longer recognisable. Voltage's breaths had become shallow and quick. Onishima's voice shrunk back again.

"No one's going to care about some English jaji, least of all you. Taka, take her out of my sightshe's resisting arrest. I have to oversee the deconstruction of Gateway."

Onishima winked at Taka who stood on the door. Maliciously he pulled his baton out and approached Voltage. All that could be heard were the howling screams as the baton pummelled Voltage over and over and over, the pain increasing each time

* * * * * * * * * * * *

The swirling maelstrom of darkness began to unravel in Gum's head. Her vision was blurred and her head throbbed but she could still make out the shapes of three humans in the room. Was she with the GGs? Back in the garage? She scanned the walls for an answer; they blistered with incredible light, flashing on and off. These weren't the shallow, washed out ramparts of the garage - it was some place where they still cared about their image.

A lump came to her throat. If she, and the GGs managed to solve this mystery and get out alive, she would dedicate her entire life to keeping them altogether. It wasn't right for a group of ten dropouts who had finally managed to find their places in a harsh world to rip apart at the seems.

She dropped her head and closed her eyes hard. The blur vanished. She was being selfish and she knew it. Keeping the GGs together was her own form of escape from the past. In fact it was the reason she joined in the first placeto avoid those nights being moved from place to place, face to face. She just wanted to disappear into the background and find an expressive portal.

She'd found that portal, that place of her own nirvana. She couldn't let it slip away.

Even if it was a selfish motivation.

She felt the outside edge of her eye moisten, and flicked them back open, rubbing quickly.

The blur seemed to become clearer, and she could suddenly make out where she was. It was Noise Tank terroitory. Gigantic neon signs buzzed on and off, a haze of purple and green guiding her eyes to the other spots. In a far corner, a pair of computer servers hummed and buzzed away, feeding files to the flatscreen units that were piled on a desk at the far corner. Bits of electronics were scattered all over the floor, most cracked and broken.

It was a horrific site to anyone but the Noise Tanks. To them, it was home.

Two of the tanks sat at a table in the middle of the room whilst the other, who had his backs to them, rocked gently on a stolen office chair whilst he typed to a black screen.

"Umhey, tank dudes?"

Her voice was flippant; she figured that if they had wanted to turn her into some sort of cyborg mutant, they would have done it by now.

"Listen to what I'm saying," One of them bleeped as a small group of the tanks sat, oblivious to Gum. Gum was just relived to hear that they had turned their filters off. "She's an English rudie in Tokyo-To arrested by a crazy police chief with a grudge against art. If we're lucky, we'll get the body back in one piece."

"He can't do that," Gum yelled and emerged from the shadows. No one so much as blinked.

"He can't do that, Radeon," The Noise Tank echoed Gum's words in violent protest. "If there was any sign that English people are being mistreated here, it'll be a major incident!"

The Noise Tank who tapped away feverishly at one of the computer snorted.

"It wouldn't be hard to cover it up, Flux," he chipped in. "Use your brain man, who is going to miss a rudie?"

"Use my brain? What about yours, Shien? If you had even half the mental capacity that your mouth seems to have, you'd have worked a way past the prison defences hours ago."

Shien lifted his filter up and bleeped offensively before turning back around.

"Shut it, you two," Radeon butted in. "Bottom line, the guy is nuts and we don't know what he'll do, even to one of his own."

Gum bit her lip. She knew what he'd do.

Suddenly, there was a crash at the door. It rocked in and out with intense vigour. All three Noise Tanks and Gum flung their heads in the direction of the entrance and watched, scared and wary. All fell silent for a few seconds, before there was a further crash, more violent and louder than the last. The Tanks barely had chance to think of a plan before a third crash took the door clean off the hinges.

Gum put her hands to her mouth and screamed.

In the frame stood that same white trenchcoat that had murdered Ataru in front of her eyes. The hat covered the eyes, fingers barely visible from the sleeves, and the tips of the shoulders shook uncontrollably. Whoever was in the coat had a serious emotional problem.

As he advanced from the walkway down the stairs, Shien jumped up from his seat, knocking it to the floor, and pulled out a switchblade, holding it menacingly.

"Where the hell did you" Flux nervously started.

"Shut up," Shien yelled, then refocused on the mysterious dark figure, whose slow movement towards the group had not slowed anymore with the introduction of the weapon.

"Put it away," growled the trench, lifting a pale white hand out of his sleeve and pointing at the blade. Every step he made on the metal echoed deeply in Gum's ears. She couldn't believe what she was seeing, what she was about to see again. Shien took a few steps back, as if he was arching back to pounce.

"I'm warning you"

The trench ignored him and continued advancing. As his foot left the last step, Shien forced out a warcry and ran forward, diving at the mysterious figure with murderous rage. The gloved hand slapped the switchblade out of his hand, but couldn't prevent Shien impacting with full force against his body. The two collapsed to the floor, and the trench's hat rolled off onto the floor.

Gum froze in fear as she saw the face that emerged, and voices rang in her head.

"Kobashi YamotoGum Yamoto"

Her brother.

She closed her eyes and felt herself go weak, sitting down before she fell. She took heavy, undisguised breaths as she leant against the wall, wishing that the memories would go away. No one could hear her breathing

Except for him.

As he pulled himself to his feet, Kobashi grabbed Shien and put him into a headlock. Flux and Radeon finally rose to the challenge in order to save their imprisoned friend, but with his free hand, Kobashi swept them aside.

"Do that again," he whispered. "And I'll break his neck."

Shien still struggled to get away, but the pain had worn him down.

"They took my project," Kobashi said, almost whispering as the words escaped his lips. "Took it right away from me. You're going to help me get it back."

"How?" Flux said, still rubbing his head from where it had cracked against the rail.

"You'll cut the power from the city's grid."

"What?!?!" Radeon protested. "Taking out Tokyo-To's power? It's never been done!"

"Until now," Kobashi grinned. "I know you want your rudie back. I have the schematics you need."

Without warning, he let go of Shien and shoved him to his workstation, whipping out a disk and throwing it in the drive at the same time. A display of red, blue and green pipes appeared above a chalkboard layout. Kobashi pointed to a large red one that ran into several blue ones and merged in with the rest of the complex.

"Cut it, cut it, CUT IT," Kobashi's whispers became louder and louder. Shien stared at him, and pulled out a finger ready to make a matter-of-fact speech.

"CUT IT!"

Kobashi's scream was defening. Shien quickly complied. He hit the return key. The green text and corresponding map vanished from the screen, and with it, the lights flickered and went down and the buzz of the servers cut out. It was pitch black.

Gum looked around quickly for some way out of the darkness; all she could see were Kobashi's red eyes staring straight at her. He knew she was there.

She looked away, anyway she could, down to her hands. She too faded away.

_Backup Generator Charging_

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Well, it's been a while. Maybe too long, and for that I apologize, but there's been stuff, and laziness, and three chapter rewrites, and then a cut because some of it's more relevant to all be included in the next chapter, so

I'll try and get Chapter 4 out before the next millennium ^^; Hopefully I won't have killed your interest totally because it's going to get very intense very fast from here on in.

Rob - 2nd March 2003  



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